


Shelby The Emotions Expert

by BiBitchBee



Category: Best Friends Whenever (TV)
Genre: Barry Doesn’t Understand Emotions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sexuality Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:13:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25542658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiBitchBee/pseuds/BiBitchBee
Summary: Barry needs help understanding some feelings he can’t quite place. He turns to Shelby.
Relationships: Barry Eisenburg & Shelby Marcus, Barry Eisenburg/Naldo Montoya, Naldo Montoya & Cyd Ripley, Shelby Marcus/Cyd Ripley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57





	Shelby The Emotions Expert

Barry sighed and put down the beaker. His mind was running and all he wanted was for it to slow down and focus on the experiment at hand. He was never good at slowing his mind down, but Naldo had always helped him. However, Naldo was currently at the mall with Syd for thier first real date. Shelby was laying on the couch of the lab behind him, flipping through one of her many bedazzled binders. "Shelby, can you help me figure something out?" He asked, turning away from the chemicals and sitting in one of the chairs near the couch. 

Shelby sat up and closed her scrapbook. "Barry, asking for help? What's wrong?" She gave him a kind smile and absentmindedly brushed back a piece of her hair. Barry was staring at his hands as he shook them back forth, searching for the words.

"I- I've never been the best with emotions and I need help placing how I've been feeling lately." He finally says, running a hand over his pant leg nervously. He had a hypothesis for how he was feeling but he really, really didn't want it to be correct. He hoped he was wrong, because he often was when it came to emotions. Shelby was better with them. So was Naldo, and he usually helped him but when he had tried to bring it up the other day Barry had gotten caught in his throat and ended up stammering something out about getting more blankets for the lab.

"I'm always good at emotions. How ya feelin?" She swung her boots back and forth, watching as Barry rubbed the back of his neck frantically. Barry had rarely ever looked so nervous, and it was kind of putting her on edge. Barry was always the level-headed one, never taking too much time to dwell on social interaction or how he was emoting. He perferred to engross himself in his studies, and when he needed a breath, Naldo usually pulled him away for a movie night.

"I've been feeling oddly recently, and at first I thought I was sick, but now I think this may be more phycological. I've been stammering, and feeling like my stomach was going to burst open. My head gets dizzy and I find myself breathless. My chest hurts, but not like a pain. It's almost as if I-" Barry cut himself off to run a hand down his face and look up at Shelby with pleading eyes.

"Well, this sounds familiar to me." She said with a smile. "Sounds like you have a cru- _ush_!" She sing-songed at him and didn't notice how his face fell. "Who is it? Come on, Barry! Tell me! Tell me. Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me tell me."

Barry's eyes were wide and he was running his hand up and down his face, as if trying to wipe it clean. "NO!" He yelled, cutting her off, moving his hands with the word. "No. No, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no." His breathing became heavy and ragged and Shelby moved toward him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He jerked away. "You're wrong. It's not... I don't... you're wrong. You have to be." 

"Barry, Barry, look at me." She crouched next to his chair and met his eyes. The normally clear blue eyes were clouded over and he looked so shaken. "You need to breathe, okay? Can you breathe with me? In, out. Like this." She demonstrated by breathing slowly, and he matched her. Slowly, his breathing cleared, but his eyes were now sprouting tears that he held back, refusing to cry.

"It can't be a crush, Shelby." His voice broke and he lowered his eyes to his shoes. His naturally confident scientist air was replced by the panting boy, who wouldn't take his eyes off his shoes. "You have to be wrong, be-because he's out on a date with Cyd and I'm just sitting around waiting for him and I-"

"Wait," Shelby said, placing a hand on his knee. "Barry, do you like Naldo?" As he brought his eyes up to hers, he remained silent. The tears finally started to leak out of his eyes, and that was answer enough. Shelby threw her arms around him. He froze for a moment, before reciprocating. "It's okay, you know. You're allowed to have a crush on your best friend. It happens to people all the time." She added quietly. He pulled away to look at her, eyes wide and she gave him a sad smile. "Happens all the time." She repeated.

Barry wiped his face with the back of his hoodie sleeve. "This is so ridiculous. I've been friends with him for years, and when I finally notice this is when he's on his date with Cyd. I'm such a fool." He mumbled. Shelby put a hand on his shoulder and opened her mouth to deny it, but the door flung open and she jerked back. Barry stood and when she glanced at him, it appeared as though nothing was wrong. His face was clear of tears and all traces of sadness, but there was a small furrow of his brow.

Cyd and Naldo walked in, laughing. "God, that was stupid." Cyd said as she walked in, before plopping onto the cough next to Shelby. Barry turned back to the previously abandoned beaker and avoided her gaze. "I can't believe we thought that would work." 

Naldo smiled at her. He grinned at her, holding out a hand for a high five. "Friends?" She high fived him and repeated the statement. Barry kept his eyes drilled on the blue liquid sloshing in the beaker, and slowly poured in a red liquid. Naldo appeared at his elbow. "Watch'a makin'?" he asked with a signature Naldo smile. Barry glanced over at Shelby, who was watching them with an all-too-knowing glint in her eye that he hated.

But Naldo was at his shoulder, asking about his experiment. So he explained each chemical, and what good it would do to mix them together. Naldo listened, nodding along as if he understood. Barry loved that about him. Even though he didn't understand their experiments most of the time, because Barry enjoyed it Naldo did. It was one of the things he loved about his best friend.

"Hey, guys, Cyd and I are gonna go." Shelby said, her voice pointed at Barry. He tightened his jaw at the insuation left unsaid in her words. "We'll see you guys tommorow, right?" 

Barry looked at the floor again. "Yup!" Naldo said, while Barry just murmered an affirmative. Shelby was still looking at him, he could feel it. He lifted his head and saw her raised eyebrows, a question. He glanced at Naldo, who was playing with a crystal. He looked to her and nodded slightly, and she beamed, grabbing Cyd’s arm and pulling her out of the lab.

"Renaldo, don't do that, you're gonna set off a reaction." He said, trying to keep the smile out of his voice. There was that feeling again, that his chest was in pain, but in a good way. He could only describe it as his heart was exploding, but that wouldn't be logical. 

Naldo put the crystal down immideately, knowing that reactions were only good when looking for results. "What's wrong, Barry?" He asked, glancing up at his friend. To anybody, Barry looked fine. He had his same stoneface expression of focus, eyes dead set on the beakers in front of him. But Naldo had seen Barry's look of focus beofre, and that wasn't it. Today he was more gaurded, like he was keeping a lock on his emotions. His eyebrows were furrowed together when they do when he's thinking, but without the set look of determination on his face, it only makes Naldo worry more.

"What?" Barry said, head snapping to Naldo. "Nothing, Renaldo, I'm fine." Barry returned his eyes to the now purple liquid as he began measuring the right amount to add to the solution he was curating. The expiriment. The expiriment. The expiriment. Barry was forcing his attention into the expiriment, and he definitely didn't notice how close Naldo was getting as he looked over his shoulder. He poured some of the purple liquid into a darker liquid, and stirred it counter clockwise.

"No you're not, Barry. You look confused. I remember because when Cyd and Shelby were fighting, you didn't understand Cyd's facial expressions and you had the same look on your face." Barry scrunched up his nose as he pulled the stirrer out of the concoction and wiped it clean. "It's a cute face."

Barry froze. _Did he just say what I think he just said?_ but Barry shook his head and moved on, measuring out a powder substance to add into the mixture. "Seriously, Renaldo. I'm fine. Shelby and I were talking earlier and she told me something and I just need to process it." He sighed and ran his thumb across his hairline to catch his sweat. He wiped it off and added in the spoonful of powder. "Okay, so we should let this sit for an hour and then it should be ready."

Naldo took a second to sweep a glance across the room. "Let's watch something!" He said brightening. He pulled Barry to the couch by the sleeve of his hoodie, though the scientist gave no protest. Barry sat at the edge, and Naldo layed down, using Barry's legs as a pillow. The scientist smiled down at him as Naldo grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels. "Nothing goods on." He determinned quickly, flicking off the tv but making no effort to move.

Barry hummed in acknowledgement. "So, tell me about the date." He decided on leading with, and Barry cautiosly placed a hand under Naldo's hat and began stroking his head mutely as Naldo began talking about his day with Cyd at the mall.

"And then we went to the food court, and Cyd laughed at one of my jokes so hard her drink came straight out of her nose. But when we got back, we didn't think it felt right to call it a date. It just seemed like we were hanging out. So we decided that was what it was." Naldo closed his eyes and yawned, leaning into Barry's touch as the smaller boy continued to caress his hair.

"Well, as long as you two are happy." He smiled down at the boy in his lap, and decided to just rip off the metaphorical bandaid. "I wanted to discuss something with you, see if you were open to it."

Naldo moved up on the couch, more of himself curling into Barry's lap. Barry started breathing very shallow. "Sure, Barry. What's up?" He yawned once again, eyes closing.

"Would you be opposed to..." Barry took a deep breath, like Shelby had him doing ealier "me kissing you?" Barry held his breath and he would swear time slowed down. "If you don't want to, obviously, I won't. I just had to ask to be sure I wasn't gonna regret it, and Shelby sort of made me, and I'm sorry. Please don't be mad. I... don't want you to be mad."

Naldo snuggled foreward more, now completely curled up in Barry's lap. He let out a soft snore and Barry chuckled. How very Naldo. But as Barry looked down at the sleeping boy in his lap, he couldn't help himself but to lean down and press a kiss to his forehead. Naldo stirred slightly, and Barry froze. Naldo streched and sat up slightly, pulling his hat off to place it on the coffee table in front of them. Naldo then pressed a kiss to Barry's cheek, and fell back into his lap.

Barry's eyes widened and he pressed a hand to the spot where Naldo's lips had been moents ago. He smiled, and began to run his fingers through his hair. "Night, Barry." Naldo mumbled. Barry chuckled slightly, glancing out the window at the clear skys and bright sun. 

"Goodnight, Renaldo."


End file.
